Seagate to start selling hard drives preloaded with Lindows OS

BDRBDR
edited September 2003 in Science & Tech
I know most of you are probably not impressed by Lindows, but it's definately finding a niche.

http://www.lindows.com/lindows_seagate.php

Comments

  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    I dig it.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited September 2003
    One more reason to stay away from Seagate drives...
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Actually, Lindows 4.0 is decent for a consumer starter system. For basic office use, the best in the library is OpenOffice, though if they woudl offer StarOffice 7.0 in the library subscription I would seriously consider it for just an online box or a starter or Grandmother's box.

    There is one major codicil with OpenOffice, save your work in original format and only export when you need to share with a Microsoft Office user.

    BUT, Lindows is based on Linux and has a Linux kernel structure. This actually is kinda nice, things that violate kernel not only do not BSOD as the kernel TRIES to run them, you know right off the bat it is incompatible because the app simply will not load. One other thing, Both Xandros and Lindows have approaches to letting some windows apps run.

    Lindows has gone with an extended Wine structure(Wine-X derived in part) while Xandros uses extended Wine and you can get win4Lin also through their partnership with NetTraverse. Win4Lin actually should run smoother on Xandros's products than Lindows, and it is slower than Wine is right now,but it runs many more major Widnows apps.

    If you are looking for cross-compatibility you could easily emulate\translate a full 98SE install within the Xandros Linux products except for newer busses that Linux itself does nto yet support.

    I can print to USB printers in Win4Lin 5.0, simply by letting Linux do the workhorse end of the printing handling. The major downside to sross-compatibility is more RAM is needed, though Linux allows for much more RAM than Windows with the use of an Enterprise or SMP kernel. Win4Lin can share RAM workspace to Windows at a limit of 128 MB which will let you do most things.

    Major Exceptions, USB 2.0 and DirectX 9.0 (though Win4Lin users have laoded and run Directx 8.0 in Win4Lin).

    Wine has limits also, it does not load a full Windows as Win4Lin does and thus most of the underlying DLL structure has to be linked for teh apps needing it.

    John.
  • SlickSlick Upstate New York
    edited September 2003
    Ill stick to slackware.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Slick said
    Ill stick to slackware.

    But Slack isn't a consumer OS ;)

    Comparing Slack to Lindows is like comparing a DELL to a homebuilt machine :wave:
  • BDRBDR
    edited September 2003
    Ok, here's my scoop on it, and you have to understand I like tinkering with different OS'es.

    I have tried Lindows via a friend, and I was unimpressed.
    It installed in about 5 seconds, and let me thinking WTF?.
    It did not give an option to set up networking info during install, and I didn't bother going farther with it to get online. I just wanted to see what it looked like.
    I've run both Mandrake and Red Hat, so I'm not exactly a noob at Linux. Lindows just looks like a normal GUI.


    When I complained to my friend, he said "Look, I'm not into Linux and command line. I like Lindows _because it is easy_.
    I don't have to worry about if I can get programs installed because Lindows does it for you.
    I would have never tried another Linux OS, but Lindows gives me a way to get familiar with Linux, without being frustrated at every turn."

    I have to give him that. If it gives some people the ability to get familiar with Linux, then they just may get brave enough to try another Linux distro at some point in the future.

    (I have to mention that my friend had dial up and apparently had no problem with it asking for his dial up info during installation)
  • SlickSlick Upstate New York
    edited September 2003
    Shorty said
    Slick said
    Ill stick to slackware.

    But Slack isn't a consumer OS ;)

    Comparing Slack to Lindows is like comparing a DELL to a homebuilt machine :wave:

    Ah my friend, I have had slackware running on a dell before, goodthing we didnt rip a hole in the space time continuum.
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